Running an Expensive or Inexpensive Sport?

It can be relatively inexpensive, but you can also make it expensive.

Inexpensive if you buy discount shoes, clothing and are selective about what races to enter (or just time yourself in time trials on tracks or measured courses, or responsibly bandit races, and avoid race entry fees). You do not need expensive facilities or gear to train.

Expensive if you believe all the marketing and buy expensive shoes, clothing, watches, supplements, massages, periodicals, alter-G treadmills, drugs, travel to exotic races, etc.

Some runners wear $500+ in shoes, clothing, sunglasses, compression socks, hats, etc. just to go out on a 4 mile training run at 12 min mile pace whereas others train virtually naked in old hand me down shoes or even barefoot at sub six minute mile pace.

Running is inexpensive because we have people in countries with low per capita incomes(who have and can afford very little in gear and such and do not have access to courts and facilities) being able train to try to become good runners. Enough of them progress enough so they dominate international distance running.

The simple and inexpensive nature of running make it one of the worlds most competitive sports. You can't say that about cycling, swimming, golf, etc. As an individual sport you do not even need social connections, friends or a team to effectively to train at and practice running.

Running is still simple enough that it is a true competition between individuals. The equipment, extras and gear is secondary and really does not matter much. Despite what shoe companies think, no one really pays too much attention to what spikes and clothing the top runners are wearing.

I just read in Richard Askwith´s "running free" that running is the sport where they sell equipment to the highest value every year. The running gear industry sold stuff worldwide for 16 billion GB pounds 2013. A distant second was soccer with 7 billion.

Ok, we all agree that it is more expensive the more competitive you are.

But let's ask another question:

Tell me one sport that is actually cheaper than running!
I'd like to hear some opinions on there.

BTW: The poster who said running gear makes the most money, this is just because basically everybody has some running shoes at home. It's almost like hiking shoes or ski boots. Everyone has it, even people who almost never use them
How many people have a road bike or soccer shoes?

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CWG wrote:

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EZ10Miler wrote:

I'm just thinking that many working poor and working class people are in jobs that make going for the daily run very difficult. If you are doing hard, manual labor, or you have a weird split ship schedule, few weekends off, you work and sleep at odd hours... the chance you getting in the consistency needed is just going to be rare.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's going to less common than the professionals or 9-5 types.

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I did hard manual labor and was very poor and ran my best during that period.
Saying you can't do it is a cop out.

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Although races are getting expensive, my guess is that most people choosing to race as their primary hobby don't factor the entry fees in as a major expense. I've kind of put this to the test the past 2 years with a 10k race I invented. Long story short, growing up some family friends held a pot luck at their cabin in September with a 10k in the morning. The only cost was a dish to pass and a few bucks if you wanted a t-shirt, which the old man made the design for each year, and he made the awards in his wood shop. They provided beer, soda and water. It was a ton of fun. Today, my wife and I have some scratch after putting a room in our house on Air BnB, and my race is something of a creative outlet. Essentially, the race costs the price of postage (registration by postcard) and driving to the park (40 minutes from the far side of town). The course is accurately measured with signage, has water, the race is timed, and I provide post-race refreshments. The park at the start/finish has an outhouse. Last year we had 16 "registrants" and 7 DNS. This year we had 20 registrants and 4 DNS. The event was advertised 3 months in advance on 2 listservs and as a Facebook event, so probably reaching 250 people. Awards have included home brew and items from the local farmer's market. In contrast, an un-timed Color Run of a few thousand people sold out at $50 a crack. So, maybe all this is a post for a different topic, but at the least I'd say people consider running to be a relatively cheap hobby with still affordable organized competition.

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EZ10Miler wrote:

What makes running "expensive" is the time requirement. Yes, shoes and shorts have gotten pretty high, but you can shop and make all that work. Being able to "afford" the leisure time it takes to run consistently is what makes this such a yuppie sport.

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It doesn't have to be particularly expensive, but some people exhibit an uncanny talent to make it extraordinarily expensive.

this is not "affordable organized competition", it's you & ~20 of your buddies meeting for a group run in a park w/some brews afterward. you're not even paying the park for land use/freedom from liability if someone gets hurt.

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Zak wrote:

Although races are getting expensive, my guess is that most people choosing to race as their primary hobby don't factor the entry fees in as a major expense. I've kind of put this to the test the past 2 years with a 10k race I invented. Long story short, growing up some family friends held a pot luck at their cabin in September with a 10k in the morning. The only cost was a dish to pass and a few bucks if you wanted a t-shirt, which the old man made the design for each year, and he made the awards in his wood shop. They provided beer, soda and water. It was a ton of fun. Today, my wife and I have some scratch after putting a room in our house on Air BnB, and my race is something of a creative outlet. Essentially, the race costs the price of postage (registration by postcard) and driving to the park (40 minutes from the far side of town). The course is accurately measured with signage, has water, the race is timed, and I provide post-race refreshments. The park at the start/finish has an outhouse. Last year we had 16 "registrants" and 7 DNS. This year we had 20 registrants and 4 DNS. The event was advertised 3 months in advance on 2 listservs and as a Facebook event, so probably reaching 250 people. Awards have included home brew and items from the local farmer's market. In contrast, an un-timed Color Run of a few thousand people sold out at $50 a crack. So, maybe all this is a post for a different topic, but at the least I'd say people consider running to be a relatively cheap hobby with still affordable organized competition.

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race entry fees are ridiculous wrote:

i will not b*tch about gear but i will about race entry fees. in my area you cannot find race X for less than price Y as follows:

5K $50
10K $60
HM $75

this is effing ridiculous.

thank god it is club xc season, 15 bucks a pop for fun + good competition....

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LRC OG wrote:

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CWG wrote:

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EZ10Miler wrote:

I'm just thinking that many working poor and working class people are in jobs that make going for the daily run very difficult. If you are doing hard, manual labor, or you have a weird split ship schedule, few weekends off, you work and sleep at odd hours... the chance you getting in the consistency needed is just going to be rare.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's going to less common than the professionals or 9-5 types.

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I did hard manual labor and was very poor and ran my best during that period.
Saying you can't do it is a cop out.

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Were you training on a treadmill because you were not tough enough to train outside at that time? What kind of times were you running?

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yawn i want a real race wrote:

this is not "affordable organized competition", it's you & ~20 of your buddies meeting for a group run in a park w/some brews afterward. you're not even paying the park for land use/freedom from liability if someone gets hurt.

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` wrote:

The second quote is way off base. A decent pair of shoes "that you need to be a serious runner" are $60-$80, $100 max. I know zero runners who have paid $140 for a pair of shoes.

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I think for the hobbyist there are lots of cheaper sports. For the enthusiast running is pretty cheap.

I can head to the park and play pickup softball, basketball or soccer for free.

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European wrote:

Tell me one sport that is actually cheaper than running!

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rrr wrote:

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EZ10Miler wrote:

What makes running "expensive" is the time requirement. Yes, shoes and shorts have gotten pretty high, but you can shop and make all that work. Being able to "afford" the leisure time it takes to run consistently is what makes this such a yuppie sport.

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With a home treadmill there's really no time requirement.

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Injury Master wrote:

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` wrote:

The second quote is way off base. A decent pair of shoes "that you need to be a serious runner" are $60-$80, $100 max. I know zero runners who have paid $140 for a pair of shoes.

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Every modern running specialty shoe now costs over 100 retail. If you go into a running shoe store that is the bare minimum you will pay. The thing is, a value-conscious runner will always buy last year's model, which is usually still widely available online and much cheaper. And let me tell you, I work at a Fleet Feet Sports branch and in my experience most shoes are essentially identical year-to-year; the upper might be a bit better looking but the running world hasn't seen true innovation in decades.

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That's right. You get faster just by owning a home treadmill. Why do you think Galen Rupp is so fast? He has the most expensive treadmill around.

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Injury Master wrote:
Every modern running specialty shoe now costs over 100 retail. If you go into a running shoe store that is the bare minimum you will pay. The thing is, a value-conscious runner will always buy last year's model, which is usually still widely available online and much cheaper. And let me tell you, I work at a Fleet Feet Sports branch and in my experience most shoes are essentially identical year-to-year; the upper might be a bit better looking but the running world hasn't seen true innovation in decades.

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I think running is cheap if you compare equal levels of commitment.

Compare to playing pickup soccer/tennis/basketball/hockey/etc twice a week. Running twice a week for 45 minutes? You buy maybe two pairs of shoes a year. Your running clothes are essentially a fixed cost because you don't wear them out. Ditto for a watch if you even wear one. So we're talking maybe like $200 a year.

Now if you're talking enthusiast level, like entering races, then you have to compare apples to apples. It's hard to find people who are equally committed to something like soccer, especially (say) year-round. I'm talking like daily practicing for 30-90 minutes, entering competitions, etc. I think it's a lot easier to compare to cycling.